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Atomic Donkey Brewing currently has 3 brews in different stages of fermentation. A Chocolate Stout that will not leave the brewery. Finally one for the staff. The Porter that did not go so well and turned into a fun experiment that will hopefully turn out nicely. And now the Hazelnut/Vanilla Espresso Porter which we nailed this time around. Yes, we've decided to throw in some vanilla bean as well.

There were no screw ups with the Porter this time. No stuck sparges. Just a delicious smelling porter with an OG of 1.063. Exactly what we were shooting for. I even had some help from my future brew master who is currently 4 years old. He pitched the little yeasties and swears he saw them swimming around and eating. Who was I to argue. I have terrible eyes. We put a blow off tube on this brew. Pitched a fair amount of yeast and I am fully expecting very vigorous fermentation.

So there are now 3 brews in our fermentation chamber. I know there have not been a lot of posts but things have been moving right along. A lot of research is going into this next brew. We mentioned it in the last post. The Yohimbe Brew. We want to get this one right. And being as its something completely new to us, we want to make sure we handle it correctly.

We hope everyone is well out there. Fall is here which for us at Atomic Donkey means more brewing. Can't wait to see what the season brings. CHEERS!

Good morning friends and beer lovers. Things have been relly exciting around the brewery lately. After what seemed like way too much time off from brewing we jumoed back in big time.

Two weeks ago we brewed a basic chocolate stout which will be kept in house for Atomic Donkey employees enjoyment. Lately, everything we have made has been for someone else. Don’t get me wrong, this is why we do it. But its nice to brew for us every once in a while. No trouble with the brew. Every thing went off without a hitch.

OG = 1.056
Gravity as of 8/30/12 = 1.016

This past Saturday we set out to brew the Hazelnut Espresso Porter. This was to be the maiden voyage of our new false bottom. We were very excited about this. Well, let’s just say it did not go as planned. In brewing you don’t learn till you screw something up. That being said, we learned a lot. We used a piece of hose that we use to drain and bottle. Well apparently the heat within the mash tun is too much for this little piece of hose. The temperature caused the hose to collapse on itself therefore creating the stuck sparge from hell! So we had to dump all the grain and wort into another sterilized pot. Then we had to take the false bottom out and put our mesh hose back in. This process added a good 2 hours to the day. Through all this the gravity ended up coming is way too low. It was around 1.042 and we were shooting for 1.062. Needless to say I will not be giving this brew to anyone. I decided to have some fun with it since it was so off. Added a few things here and there. Even took a gallon out and got really crazy with it. We will see how it all comes out.

We will now be brewing a new Hazelnut Espresso Porter once Brew Master Jimmy Sharp returns from a long weekend in beautiful Ocracoke, NC. We will have all the proper hoses for our false bottom and we will do this thing right. Mistakes happen, and we have learned some valuable lessons which we will carry forward with us. We will use this new knowledge on this next batch. It’s going to be great! We guarantee it.

This is some exciting news. We have been approached about creating a brew using Yohimbe Bark. Yohimbe Bark is found in the bark of the Pausinystalia yohimbe tree in western Africa. It is both a stimulant and aphrodisiac. We are currently researching it some more to make sure it will taste good. Most importantly we need to learn about its interaction with alcohol. Along with the Yohimbe, we will be using numerous spices and herbs. This will be Atomic Donkeys boldest creation to date. You have to take chances in life. It could be the worst thing you’ve ever tasted or it could be a life changing experience. We are betting on the later. Stay tuned for this one people. It's going to be a lot of fun. CHEERS!